If Google Play Blocks Your Donation Link, Pick Your Entity Before You Need It

The link is not the problem

When a free tool starts taking money from users, the first thing you should check is not the button. It is the legal shape behind the button. A donation link can look harmless, but a store may treat it as a payment flow, and a payment flow can force you to prove who you are, what you are, and where the money goes.

That is the lesson in a recent AnkiDroid issue: Google rejected AnkiDroid Play Store updates starting 28 August 2026 and warned that, unless resolved, the app would be removed from Google Play on 11 September 2026 worldwide except India and Russia.

The project’s donations go to Open Source Collective, which acts as its fiscal host.

The host holds an IRS determination letter saying it is tax-exempt under 501(c)(6), and the issue says that letter has been provided to Google.

Google support has not explained why that determination is insufficient.

To keep distribution going, AnkiDroid removed donation links from its Play Store build 2.24.X under protest.

The stated remediation path says that, if a donation is to a tax-exempt organization, the developer must provide documentation proving the organization is tax-exempt.

Read those facts as a warning, not a scandal. The project was not trying to hide anything. It was trying to keep a free tool alive while following a store rule that may have been written for a different kind of business. The hard part is that the rule can arrive after you have already shipped, after users have found the link, and after your funding path is public.

Why the entity comes before the button

For a solo maintainer, the trap is that the app feels personal. You are not a company. You are a person fixing bugs, answering issues, and asking for help. But a store does not care about your intent. It cares about the money path. If the money goes to a person, a business, a nonprofit, or a fiscal host, the store may expect a matching legal identity.

The uncomfortable part is that tax-exempt is not one thing. A store may accept one kind of documentation and reject another, and it may not tell you the reason in plain language. If you have not chosen your entity before the store asks, you are negotiating from the wrong side of the table.

This is especially true for open source funding. Your users may expect the money to go to maintenance, not to a commercial account. Your host may expect a certain kind of documentation. Your future self may want to add a paid tier, a support plan, or a hosted service. If those paths are not separated now, every later change becomes a legal and platform problem.

A five-step entity check before you ship

1. List every payment or donation flow. Include in-app buttons, store description links, README links, release notes, social profiles, and any email reply that says send money here. If a user can move money from your project to an outside account, it is a flow. Do not count only the button in the app. Count every place a stranger can find a way to pay you.
2. Match each flow to a legal shape. For a free open-source project, the common choices are a fiscal host, a registered nonprofit, or a for-profit entity. A fiscal host can be useful when you want donations without becoming a nonprofit yourself. A registered nonprofit can be stronger when you need public trust and tax-exempt documentation. A for-profit entity can be simpler when you may later sell support, hosting, or a paid tier.
3. Collect the exact documentation before review. If you are using a host, ask for the document the store will accept, not just a general letter. If you are a nonprofit, keep your determination letter, tax ID, and governing documents in one folder. If you are a for-profit, keep your registration, tax ID, and bank details ready. The goal is to answer the store in one reply, not three.
4. Remove or gate risky links before store review. If a link points to a payment method the store may not accept, do not ship it and hope. Put it behind a web page, a settings screen, or a separate distribution channel. If the store cannot see it, it cannot reject it. If the store can see it, it must match your legal story.
5. Keep a one-page fallback plan. Write down what you will remove, what you will replace, what you will email, and what you will say to users if the store blocks a link. A fallback plan is not defeat. It is the difference between a temporary patch and a panic.

Make the boring decision early

The best time to choose your legal entity is before the first donation button, not after the first rejection. The second best time is now. Pick the shape that matches your money path, gather the documents, and keep the fallback plan close. If the store asks, you can answer quickly. If it does not ask, you still have a cleaner project and fewer surprises.

Open-source funding is not just about asking for money. It is about building a path that can survive a platform rule change. The link is small. The entity is the foundation.